The present invention relates generally to wireless transmitters for vehicles and more particularly to a system which provides a universal remote keyless entry and garage door opener transmitter.
The overwhelming majority of new homes built are being constructed with garage door openers with remote controllers using RF wireless technology. Many existing homes are also being upgraded with garage door openers using RF wireless technology for accomplishing the remote function. Typically, a portable RF transmitter is utilized to activate the garage door opener to open and close the garage door. Users usually keep the RF transmitter in the vehicle.
The current trend in automotive market is to provide new vehicles with factory installed universal garage door opener transmitters. This has several drawbacks, including the potential compromise in security. If the vehicle is stolen, the thief can obtain the owner""s address from the glove compartment, drive to the residence and use the factory installed garage door opener to open the door. The same concern applies to portable RF transmitters which are normally left in the vehicle.
The present invention provides a portable fob having integrated remote keyless entry and garage door opener transmitters. This eliminates the need for a separate garage door opener transmitter in the vehicle. Further, the code generation circuitry for the garage door opener, including any encryption circuitry, would be removed from the vehicle with the user. As a result, a thief in a stolen vehicle would not have access to the code generation circuitry and encryption circuitry necessary to open the owner""s garage door.
In order to provide the range that customers demand for activating garage door openers, a universal repeater is preferably mounted in the headliner of the vehicle. The repeater receives and retransmits wireless signals of certain frequencies associated with garage door openers. Thus, when the user activates the fob from within the vehicle, the fob generates a wireless signal including the code necessary to activate the garage door opener. This wireless signal is received by the repeater. The repeater retransmits the code in a stronger wireless signal that is directed through the windshield of the vehicle.